Thanksgivukkah

The similarities – and essential differences – between Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.

It will never again happen in our lifetimes – unless you are somehow still alive 70,000 years from now.

This year the first night of Hanukkah will coincide with the American holiday of Thanksgiving. The latkes will share their prominent place at the festive meal with the turkey. Small wonder that some have already humorously decided that this year we ought to call the day by a new name – Thanksgivukkah.

In all seriousness, a “coincidence” of this magnitude requires some reflection. This is a perfect time to give some thought to the essential difference between the motivation for the American day of expressing gratitude to God and the Jewish rationale for our Festival of Lights. Because although thankfulness is the theme behind both of these holidays, they are significantly unlike each other in their emphasis on the particular reason that calls forth our response of appreciation to the Almighty.

As human beings we have two basic needs. One is physical. Because we are flesh and blood we require food to sustain us. Without sustenance we could not live. That is why there is a biblical obligation to bless God at the conclusion of every full meal, defined as one in which we have partaken of bread, the biblical staff of life. “And you shall eat, and you should be satiated, and you shall bless the Lord your God” (Deut. 9:7).

That is one of only two biblically mandated blessings. The other? The blessing over the study of Torah. Food is essential for our bodies but Torah is at least just as important for the preservation of our souls. Food allows us to live; Torah gives us a reason for living. Food satisfies our physical cravings; Torah responds to our deeper need for purpose and meaning to our existence.

We are a duality going back to the story of the creation of Adam who was formed from the dust of the earth and the breath of the divine. We need our bodies to house our souls; we need our souls to validate our presence in the world.

All other blessings in Jewish tradition come by way of rabbinic obligation. They are post-biblical efforts on the part of the rabbis to ensure greater awareness of God in our daily lives. But the Torah is primarily concerned with human recognition of the two major mainstays of our existence. We need to acknowledge the great gifts that make possible our physical as well as our spiritual survival – our daily bread and our opportunity to peruse the words of God’s Torah.

It is no coincidence then that holidays reflect sensitivity to these two different divine favors that we have found bestowed upon us in special moments of history.

The First Thanksgiving

One need not be Jewish to grasp the concept of gratitude as it applies to God’s wondrous role in providing for the needs of our bodies. That indeed was what prompted the pilgrims to proclaim a special day of Thanksgiving. The "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. They based it, they wrote, on the biblical holiday of Sukkot, the festival of the harvest. It was a feast that lasted three days, and was attended by about 53 Pilgrims and 90 American Indians. The New England colonists became accustomed to regularly celebrating "thanksgivings”, thanking God for the blessings of the end of a drought as well as of abundant crops and material blessings.

Thanksgiving became a national holiday in the United States by way of proclamation of the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. In the middle of the American Civil War, President Lincoln, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863. The document, written by Secretary of State William Seward, reads as follows:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

To this day, Thanksgiving remains as a powerful reminder of America’s recognition of God’s role in our national prosperity. Our tables overflow with the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, testimony to heavenly blessings bestowed upon us that grant our bodies the sustenance they require. In biblical terms, Thanksgiving is a sequel to the biblically mandated Birkat Ha-mazon, the Grace after Meals in which we express gratitude to the One Above “who feeds the world in his goodness with grace, with kindness and with mercy.”

Spiritual Blessing

But Thanksgiving does not address another kind of thankfulness we owe to God. Its emphasis on material blessings requires another component that has its source in the second blessing demanded of us by the Bible. It is the blessing for the spiritual part of our lives. It is the thanks we need to recite before the study of Torah, a blessing that alerts us to the hunger of our souls and our yearning to be nourished by the sacred.

On the Jewish calendar that blessing has a historic source in the story of Hanukkah. To speak of Hanukkah as a military victory of the Maccabees is to totally misunderstand its meaning. There have been many moments in our past when we have survived the threat of physical destruction. They are not Hanukkah. The Jews in the Seleucid Empire did not need to fear physical death. Antiochus was not bothered by the survival of Jews; what he wanted at all costs to prevent was the survival of Judaism. His decrees were against the observance of Torah. Jews could readily find their lives spared if they would be willing to forfeit their faith.

Hanukkah is a holiday whose story is perhaps most relevant to our own days. Its threat was not to our bodies, but our souls. The danger was not death but disappearance by way of assimilation.

How appropriate, the Sages note, that the ritual of Hanukkah emphasizes the use of oil. For eight nights it is the source of the light that fills our homes and our synagogues. Oil has a unique and distinct property. All other liquids, when mixed, lose their individual identity and become unrecognizable. Oil however refuses to mix. Try to stir it with water and it refuses to “assimilate”; it rises to the top and remains distinctive and identifiable.

Jews, like the oil of Hanukkah, will never totally assimilate.

It is the ideal symbol for the Hanukkah story which recounts the miracle of those who championed commitment to the truths of Sinai over the temptations of secularism. The Greeks sought to transform the world to their belief in the holiness of beauty. The Jews saw as their mission the message of the beauty of holiness. Two philosophies were at war with each other. And miraculously, the spiritual ideal proved triumphant.

For those of us today who are frightened by studies which question the possibility of Jewish survival in the face of seemingly rampant assimilation, we need to remind ourselves that the miracle of Hanukkah is our affirmation that we will always persevere in our faith. Hanukkah teaches us that the light of our tradition, which some might say doesn’t even have the capacity to last for one night, will against all physical laws of nature miraculously grow stronger and brighter. And Jews, like the oil of Hanukkah, will never totally assimilate.

Hanukkah then is the historic sequel to the blessing over Torah. It commemorates our religious survival against all odds, the victory of the spiritual over the profane, the sacred over the sacrilegious.

And when Thanksgiving and Hanukkah coincide we find ourselves doubly blessed. We will be able to offer thanks to God on the same day for both our spiritual and material blessings. Let us delight in this extremely rare opportunity to bless God for the food for our bodies as well as the survival of our faith that grants us spiritual sustenance for our souls.

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About the Author

Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a frequent contributor to Aish, is a Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, and lecturer. Author of 14 highly acclaimed books with combined sales of over a half million copies, his newest, The World From A Spiritual Perspective, is a collection of over 100 of his best Aish articles. See his website at www.benjaminblech.com.

Visitor Comments: 22

(18)
Menucha Chana Levin,
November 21, 2013 4:04 PM

Chansgiving

I think this combo 'holiday' should at least be calledChansgiving - not Thanksgivikkah. Chansgiving is much easier to pronounce, as well as being alphabetically and historically correct. At least we won't have this problem again for 70,000 years!

(17)
Arnold W,
November 20, 2013 5:20 PM

Thanksgivukkuh. The name The compromise.

It may seem cute or chic to meld secular or Christian holidays to Jewish observances or holidays. Very melting pot, but is it Jewish to do so? Didn't the Jewish Hellenists attempt to assume the character, thought, culture, language and ethical system of Greece? Wasn't the plan to replace the Jewish religion with the Pagan, Greek lifestyle? Didn't the Jewish Hellenists almost succeed in destroying Judaism as a religion? What, then, is the American Melting Pot, if not the attempt to dilute our beliefs, holidays and life cycle celebrations to match Christian nothingness? Chanukah is Chanukah and NOT Thanksgiving, which was originally celebrated as a Church service and continued to be, through the 1970's and NOT Christmas, which is mostly a Pagan celebration. We need and deserve our own distinction for our holidays and not to demean them with inappropriate comparisons to Christian and secular celebrations.

(16)
s Dale,
November 19, 2013 5:44 PM

G-d's Memo to America

When G-d spun this universe into existance He looked down the tunnel of time and ordained the Holidays to intersect at this crucial point in both Israeli and American history. It is G-d's reminder that these two nations are inextricably united by the tenents of faith we share in common. Sadly, as a Nation we have drifted far from those beliefs which our Founding Fathers held so dear. As we see anti-Semitism rising and our political policy toward Israel changing, I believe G-d is giving us a sign...perhaps a warning...to remember our commitments to Israel

(15)
Anonymous,
November 19, 2013 2:37 PM

Yes and No

While I appreciate what the Rabbi wrote, I still would rather follow in the Jewish ways of celebrating HaShem's gifts and blessings and not follow a non-Jewish standard of ceremony.

That being said, I'd like to comment on the “coincidence” of the two days falling out together:

Since nothing happens by coincidence (hence the quotation marks), what is another possible message? Everything that happens, happens at a time and place that HaShem knows that it is needed. Could it be that HaShem is trying to tell us that we, in the USA, are lacking in recognizing Him and His proper place in our lives? That we are not seeing Him in our physical lives, let alone our spiritual ones?

Just a thought

(14)
ruth housman,
November 18, 2013 11:42 PM

Two Holidays Coincide

I think this highly unusual merger, given the 'odds' is very significant being about 'merger'. I believe the entire greater cosmic Story is about giving, and giving thanks in every possible way. There is miracle in just being alive, miracle in our Chanukah story, and it is a greater story of pilgrims, pilgrimage, and the beauty of homecoming, of Nature, and there is in all things the sacred & the beautiful if we but see the aural connect between Praise & Prays. And let us not forget that the Greeks gave us many gifts as did the indigenous people, here rhe American Indians, whose spiritual wisdom is equal to any, drawing as it does from the Same Source.

(13)
Chana,
November 18, 2013 11:03 PM

Hanukkah

I didn't take it as a military victory at all. It was a battle between the spiritual over the profane and the sacred vs sacrilegious Thank you for writing such a beautiful piece. Why has so much been written about the miracle of 8 days of oil that was found in the Temple?.

(12)
Cy,
November 18, 2013 5:39 PM

Thanking G-d for redemption of synagogue

I always thought that Jews did not celebrate military victories. I always thought Hanaukah was the celebration of the redemption of the synagogue that had been defiled by oppressors.

Sidney,
November 18, 2013 8:51 PM

It is Both

The Al HanNissim prayer inserted into the Amidah on Chanukkah (this year 27 times, 24 for 3 times daily and 3 more for the additional service of Sabbath and the 2 day celebration of the New Moon of Teveth on the 6th and 7th day of Chanukkah and inserted also into the Grace after (bread) Meals, stresses the military victory. The Torah reading on the 8 mornings deal with the Tabernacle dedication due to the rededication of the Temple culminating with the miracle of oil.

Purim as described in the Book of Esther also describes a major military victory, in a sense.

(11)
Vkramer,
November 18, 2013 4:48 PM

Correction

Actually Channukah begins on Wednesday night...Thanksgiving, Thursday, is the second night of Channukah

(10)
Napoleon Schwartz,
November 18, 2013 2:32 AM

For Jews, militarism is never an end in itself

Rabbi Blech confuses things: "To speak of Hanukkah as a military victory of the Maccabees is to totally misunderstand its meaning."

Without that victory there would be no Hanukkah. But the military victory is not the meaning. The meaning of Hannukah is, "Thanks to the military victory, the Jewish people achieved religious freedom." We celebrate our right to worship in our own way.

Maybe it's just inelegant writing on the rabbi's part, but it is NEVER true in our religion that a military victory can be the "meaning" of a holiday.

Anonymous,
November 19, 2013 2:26 PM

Military victory

What about Purim?

I'll agree with you that the meaning of the holiday is not celebrating our victory - rather HaShem's role in allowing us to be victorious.

(9)
Tova,
November 18, 2013 12:54 AM

EXCELLENT!

My wish is that this should be read by every Jew especially those who NEED to learn the truth.

(8)
M J Spaulding,
November 17, 2013 10:18 PM

Thankful

I am thankful that I have gotten to know so many wonderful Jews and receive this email message. I am Christian but I appreciate so much the Jewish way of looking at life. I never understood the meaning of Hanukkah until reading this post. I always thought of it as a rededication of the altar in the temple. But this make it so clear that it was really about assimilation. Happy Hanukkah.

(7)
Bracha Goetz,
November 17, 2013 9:02 PM

How wonderful!

(6)
mgoldberg,
November 17, 2013 8:20 PM

a correction

the author states that Abraham Lincolm authored the national celebration of Thanksgiving. In fact, George Washington did it in 1789, and his particular proclamation is incredibly poignant, particularly for us jews. It should therefore be read for it's closeness to us, and to the idea and actuality of our freedom which at that time was nowhere better enforced than in colonial america. Look it up... it is a speech to remember.

Stuart Schoenberger,
November 18, 2013 3:30 PM

A national day of Thanksgiving

George Washington may have declared a day of Thanksgiving, but it was only one day. Lincoln declared a day that is still celebrated as a day of Thanksgiving.

(5)
Anonymous,
November 17, 2013 7:55 PM

This is great! Just clarifying- Thanksgiving night is actually the second night of channukah (correct?)

(4)
Rochie Mallory,
November 17, 2013 7:46 PM

Thanksgivikkah nothing more than a Capitalist Venture no matter...

Rabbi, with all due respect, no matter what kind of a scholarly spin you put on "Thanksgivikkah" (NOWHERE cited in Torah) it is merely a human invention specifically created for monetary gain by an enterprising family with a young man who coined the phrase. You can find all sorts of Turkey Menorah and other "things" online.... truly I want to "brech". My Bubbies and Zhedies are turning over in their graves.

Channukkah teaches us about Faith, Miracles & Belief. Thanksgiving, for those of us who treat it as such, is an opportunity to "give thanks" (which I do every morning in my prayers to Hashem). The reality is that it was a few benevolent American Indians who helped the Pilgrims with a few seeds and crops so they didn't starve. The "Thanksgiving" was in honor of their willingness to help (and let us not forget the INgratitude of the coming Americans who stole the land and killed myriad Indians in the process.

No, Rabbi, MY Channukkah IS and will always be The Festival of Lights, gratitude to The Macabbees, The Sadness of the Destruction AND the Miracle of Faith, Oil and Belief. Thanksgiving is bittersweet in origin, for me, but does give yet ANOTHER opportunity to express Gratitude for and to those I hold dear.

Rochie

(3)
carol,
November 17, 2013 7:27 PM

torah mandated prayers

Where is the prayer for the study of torah, b'vakasha? V'todah.

Jewish Mom,
November 18, 2013 10:58 AM

Prayer for Torah - Bircot HaTorah

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָהוְהַעֲרֵב נָא, ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ, אֶת דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָתְךָ בְּפִינוּ וּבְפִי עַמְּךָ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְנִהְיֶה אֲנַחְנוּ, וְצֶאֱצָאֵינוּ וְצֶאֱצָאֵי עַמְּךָ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, כֻּלָּנוּ יוֹדְעֵי שְׁמֶךָ, וְלוֹמְדֵי תוֹרָתְךָ לִשְׁמָהּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' הַמְלַמֵּד תּוֹרָה לְעַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל .בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר-בָּנוּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים וְנָתַן לָנוּ אֶת תּוֹרָתוֹ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' נוֹתֵן הַתּוֹרָה:And in translation: "Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of Torah. Please Hashem, our G-d, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of Your people Israel. And may we and our offspring and all the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for its own sake. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations, and gave us His Torah. Blessed are You, Hashem, Giver of the Torah."This is recited as part of the morning blessings, after saying the Modeh Ani gratitude prayer and washing one's hands, alternating right and left three times.Try the Artscroll Siddur for more details and guidance regarding Jewish prayer.

(2)
Anna,
November 17, 2013 6:45 PM

A wonderful explanation of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah. Thanksgivukkah. I will treasure this time most, with the knowledge of having lived it. I loved reading your article. Shalom.

(1)
Joseph,
November 17, 2013 6:40 PM

Wonderful way to explain Judisim

This would be a wonderful way to explain a Jewish holiday to your gentile friends. Blessings to all.